Major Spoilers Question Of The Day: Crisis On Infinite Hamburglar Edition

Recently, McDonald’s unveiled a new look for their sorta-beloved Hamburglar character, one that has been described as low-rent, creepy and reminiscent of porn parody films. Indeed, there’s a community theatre sort of look to the character now, as though somebody intentionally tried to look like somebody slapping together a Hamburglar costume at the last minute for a party. Working near Stephen and Otter Disaster for as long as I have, one tends to get a sixth sense for conspiracy, which has led me to wonder if whomever came up with this campaign was INTENTIONALLY courting hipsters (for the irony) and aging Generation-Xers (for the nostalgia), and kit-bashing a Hamburglar that is intentionally a little goofy in the hopes of a “viral hit.” It wouldn’t be the first time a corporation has done something incredibly dumb to get a little audience attention without worrying whether it’s good or bad attention (such as when Superman III featured a prominent role for hot property Richard Pryor, for some reason), leading to today’s all-beef query…

The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) is mostly flummoxed by how much he resembles comics pro Matt Fraction, asking: Do you suspect, as I do, that McDonald’s intentionally made the new Hamburglar chintzy and “ironic” to appeal to aging cynics?

About Author

Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture!
And a nice red uniform.

2 Comments

I think it may be part of it. I haven’t actually seen the look other than in this article, but it would seem to follow in the footsteps of other products marketing towards people who used to remember something as kids, but doing it in various ways. And it wouldn’t be the first time McDonalds has done something like this, either. Just look at the Japanese commercial from a few years back where they had this really hot redhead as Ronald McDonald.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxpV9GzThRE